Couple end life after son dies of dengue, hospitals get notice

New Delhi :The death of a 7-year-old boy of dengue after allegedly being denied treatment by five private hospitals and subsequent suicide by his parents today triggered widespread outrage prompting Delhi government to slap show-cause notices on them asking why their registration should not be cancelled.

The couple, Laxmichandra and Babita Rout—both natives of Odisha, committed suicide by jumping from a four-storeyed building in south Delhi’s Lado Sarai on Friday morning, four days after their only son Avinash died of suspected dengue, police said.

Five hospitals including Max hospital in Saket, Moolchand Khairatiram Hospital in Lajpat Nagar, Aakash Hospital in Malviya Nagar have been issued show cause notices to explain within a month why their registration should not be cancelled for allegedly refusing to admit the boy, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said.

The other two hospitals are Saket City Hospital and Irene Hospital, Kalkaji.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said strict action will be taken against the hospitals which refused admission to the boy. “It is completely unacceptable that some hospitals didn’t accept a patient and he died. Strict action would be taken against them,” he tweeted.

The Union Health Ministry also ordered an inquiry into the case. Health Minister JP Nadda said “guilty will not be spared”.

DCP (south) Prem Nath said the couple has left behind a one-page suicide note in Odia, in which they wrote that “it is nobody’s fault” and the “the decision” to end their lives was theirs.

Though the government issued notices to it, Max-Saket said no patient by the name of Avinash had come to it while Saket City Hospital said there was no record of his admission.

“We have checked our records and would like to inform that we did not receive any patient by the name of Avinash Rout at Max Hospital Saket. The patient never approached the hospital, hence the question of denying treatment to him does not arise,” said a spokesperson of Max hospital.